A connecting element is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,589,328. In the known arrangement, two elongate electrical conductors are coupled to one another at the ends. Owing to their design as a tube, the two conductors each have a cutout on their end faces. Spreading elements of a connecting element can be inserted in these cutouts. The connecting element essentially has a rotationally symmetrical design and is matched to the diameters of the tubular conductors. The connecting element is of hollow-cylindrical design, the inner diameter being constant over the entire length, and the outer diameter of the connecting element increasing stepwise, starting from a central section towards the two ends. The connecting element has a slit, which passes completely through the hollow cylinder wall, along its rotation axis. This slit forms in each case a spreading element at the ends of the connecting element, the spreading element being elastically deformable. The end-face spreading elements can each be plugged into the tube openings in the two electrical conductors. As they are plugged in, the spreading elements are elastically deformed and ensure a mechanical and electrically conductive connection of the two electrical conductors.
An elastic deformation of the spreading elements limits the mechanical loading of such connections. It is possible only in a very complex manner to ensure the required mechanical robustness for such connections on a permanent basis. Furthermore, such connections are only insufficiently protected against vibrations. It is thus possible for an electrical conductor to be released from one of the spreading elements owing to vibrations.